Thus, almost without bloodshed, Simon entered the country, took the ancient city of Hebron, and wasted all the neighbourhood. Marching from thence, he ravaged the whole land of Idumea, and carried off all the provisions and cattle of the wretched inhabitants. His army had increased to such a multitude from the number of irregular troops who followed him, that the country could not furnish necessaries for them; and the consequent distress of the peasantry, added to the cruelty of Simon, made them groan beneath the weight of their accumulated misfortunes. Simon's army carried desolation wherever they turned: they burned some places, and pulled down others; seized and destroyed whatever fell into their hands, and trampled under-foot every species of vegetation, so that the land became a desert, and appeared as if it had never been cultivated. These proceedings against their former allies added fury to the resentment of the Zealots, and yet they dared not meet the destroyer in open battle; but having placed ambuscades along the road, by which they were informed the wife of Simon was to pass, they succeeded in carrying her off a captive to Jerusalem, with several of her attendants. They hoped by these means to bring Simon to terms, for they knew that the loss of his wife would distract him; and therefore they expected that in order to obtain her release he would bind himself by an agreement that they might dictate. But the feelings of Simon were not to be acted upon in the manner which they anticipated: instead of approaching their walls a humble suppliant for the restoration of his wife, he came raging like a wounded beast of prey. All who ventured to set their foot outside the gates, to gather olives in the gardens or bring in other necessaries, were seized by his watchful emissaries, and brought to their savage master, who put them to death, without distinction of age or sex, after inflicting on them unparalleled torments. He is said to have been hardly restrained from tearing their flesh with his teeth, so ungovernable was his fury and vengeance. Some of his victims he spared from death only to inflict on them a worse punishment; for he cut off both their hands, and in this mutilated condition sent them back into the city, with orders to tell the leaders, that Simon had sworn by the Almighty, that if they did not immediately restore his wife to him, he would break through their walls, and treat in the same barbarous manner all who were within the city, without any distinction. This dreadful threat alarmed the people, and even the Zealots. In hope of appeasing their furious enemy, they sent out his wife to him, on which he laid aside his intention of an immediate slaughter, and withdrew his army from the walls.